According to a new report by MacOtakara, the iPad Pro will represent a change over previous rumored specs. A list of publications including the Wall St. Journal and Bloomberg had pegged the display of the iPad Pro at 12.9-inches but today’s report says it is a smaller 12.2 inches (remarkably close to the rumored upcoming Retina MacBook Air).
The Japanese website compares the iPad Pro to Microsoft’s Surface implying that the preferred method of use will be landscape instead of portrait which has been the default iPad orientation since its 2010 inception. Indeed, the iPad Pro is said to have stereo speakers on the top/bottom or left right depending on orientation. The iSight camera, Lightning connector, and Touch ID home button position will not change however.
As for the “all important” thickness, it is said to be somewhere between the current iPad Air 2/iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus which would put it near 7mm.
Interestingly, this chassis is compared to the upcoming Quanta built MacBook Air which could in fact share the same exact retina display.
The iPad Pro is due early 2015 after an original December delay was reported by the WSJ and KGI.
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It will be interesting to see what they enable from a software perspective (multiple apps per screen, for example) to make this a compelling addition to the iPad line up.
There’ve been no rumors saying so, but a digitizer that allowed for better note taking would make it a true “pro” upgrade in my book. I don’t think I ever see Apple making pen-input a core part of their technology, however.
I can see this coming a keyboard type case as well.
Am I the only one who thinks that the “iPad Pro” and the new MacBook Air are the same product? The specs I feel are too similar to be two different products…
I never thought of that butIi believe that the rumord 12 inch macbook is possibly very likely a iPad. I would rather have the iPad over the mac now lets just hope the price is reasonable.
I been wondering the same since the beginning of the rumors.
iOS with dual screen apps vs OSX.
Keyboard vs, again, iOS keyboard.
Intel CISC cpu vs Apple A series (which are very OS specific).
A wealth of apps on each OS that is optimized for the specific OS and hw it runs on.
A hybrid will not work.
If the two products are actually one I believe they will still operate independently. The screen will detach and operate as an iOS tablet. Reconnecting to the keyboard base will drop it back to OS X mode making great use of Yosemite’s continuity features. I’d love to have that flexibility !!
So it’s like what asus did with there convertible that was never released? It ran windows when docked and android undocked
U r probably right. Softy has been lamblasting the air waves with my surface better than your iPad then Mac book air(read confused). This will go after whatever share surface has in enterprise or hoping to have.
Why exactly would anyone need this?
I can see professionals in certain industries could benefit from such a large iPad…
This will be super-sweet for sketching with a Wacom Intuos stylus.
It’d be amazing for sketching! I hope it happens…
bigger screen but tablet portability and usability. know a lot of people who would go for that
If there is a ipad pro apple missed the mark by introducing it after christmas, so i think these specs may be for a new macbook.
They hit the mark. Now people will buy iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro.
Wait. Am I holding my iPad wrong? I always held it landscape. I hold my iPhone portrait.
I hope they have some kind of built in stylus support on it. It shouldn’t have the ‘Pro’ label if there isn’t some kind of wacom like digitizer in it.
The Wacoms, FiftyThrees, Pogos and Lunatiks of the world can do just as good a job as Apple (probably better) building a stylus. With iOS 8’s advanced touch recognition, stylus’ will have even better code to take advantage of. Apple is never going to include a stylus with iPad. Well, never say never I guess, but I would be shocked.
If we were talking about the iPad Air or Mini lines, I would agree with you about Apple not including a stylus… However with a device this large, it becomes more logical that a stylus would be required to fulfil the needs of the target user, which would like be the professional community, so perhaps Apple would include one out of the gate…
It makes no sense if it runs iOS. Is Apple trying to compete with the surface pro 3 and release a convertible device?
I tried a surface pro 3 at Microsoft Store and it blew me away! The screen was great size and 3:2 ratio was amazing.. So thin and light
Sorry, but the Surface Pro 3 is not a mind-blowing device, far from it. While probably one of the best Windows laptops on the market, it’s still a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none, with Windows 8.1 being its nail in the coffin. I mean come on, the stupid OS cannot even properly scale screen elements to HiDPI screens!
When Windows 10 launches, it might bring it up a few notches, but of the few people at work who bought one, they constantly have issues doing presentations to a projector with it (seemingly driver issues), have issues with the pen wearing out quickly, and the screen scaling issue personally drives me up the wall.
Knowing Apple, if they release such a hybrid device, it will be SUBSTANTIALLY more refined and polished, time will tell…
I think you both proved a point. An Apple built surface like device would be a great device.
Blah, blah blah, I don’t know the difference between opinion and fact, blah blah, swear, shout, blah, blah.
And now, you’ve officially become a troll, congratulations.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/31/microsofts-surface-pro-3-finally-gets-it-right.aspx
What if the iPad Pro and Retina MacBook Air are in fact the same product , and that Apple will call it iPadBook Air with Retina Display ?
In all likelihood one of the products might be killed as apple has done in the past. They may have to revive it based on market out cry but it’s possible.
I can envision the iPad pro being a big hit in a business environment.
So I guess the rumour mill never learns, and still craves attention by releasing this FUD? Man, can they never let it be and just wait to let put out the official statement / information on new products?
But, just to play along with this… IF releases such a monster iPad, my guess is it would be geared primarily towards photographers / videographers, engineers, CAD designers, those sorts of industries. And if so, this type of device would demand a Wacom pressure-sensitive stylus so they use that larger screen more effectively. I don’t see that tidbit mentioned anywhere in the imagined specifications…
Blah, blah, I don’t know what ‘rumour” means, blah, blah, comment on web site that equates to a wish for tech site not existing.
You feel good being a troll? Does it make you feel all pumped up and powerful? Pathetic.
stop
With the iPad Air having 3 cores a 4 core iPad Pro this spring sounds reasonable. add 4 GB of ram and could be a good combo device.
With Intel botching the release of Broadwell it isn’t suroising Apple looking at or releasing a MacBook Air with Apple designed CPU
Samsung released a 12-inch + tablet and killed it in the following quarter due lack of sales. The idea is good, but it simply didn’t have any appeal for business users (which are the product target).
Tablets still don’t replace PCs when it comes to productivity use.
To be fair, we’re talking about Samsung and Android, a company and platform that have very little traction in corporate and professional circles, with the exception of Samsung and their displays.
In terms of tablet’s being full-on PC replacements, I think that future will belong to devices like Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3, but unfortunately they haven’t matured enough, and are still jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none devices, limiting their appeal.
What is all this iPad “Pro” horsesheeet coming from? The “surface” is not some big successful competition, so, it’s not going to be made to run against a non-competitive device. You are missing where Apple is going with this.
iPad Plus is what it will be called, mark my words.
It will run iOS.
It will not run OS X.
It will not be a “crossover” device.
It will simply be an iPad with a bigger screen.
It will be the first iPad to run two apps at once on a split screen. (And will come with iOS 8.3).
It won’t be some new breakthrough device, just a bigger iPad.
Just a few examples, it will be useful for people such as in medical, airline pilots (already switching to tablets for maps/manuals), it will finally be sized right for e-magazines, this will be marketed for enterprise.
iOS 8.0: iPhone 6/6+
iOS 8.1: support for A8X chip in iPad Air 2, Apple Pay, continuity w/OS X Yosemite which was released just days ahead of iOS 8.1
iOS 8.2: Apple Watch
iOS 8.3: iPad Plus w/larger screen, first iOS device to run two apps at once on a split screen in landscape mode (this was seen in an early beta of iOS 8). Maybe the only iPad that will do this, or maybe also the iPad Air 2, but, that’s it.
Apple always develops an OS in conjunction with new hardware, always. This is what has always set Apple apart from others, the integration of software & hardware in their products. (Yosemite was made for the retina iMac, and the retina iMac was made for Yosemite.)
Oh, to clarify, yes, 8.3 will be iPad Plus, no, there will not be a new Apple TV until next fall.
Also, why do so many people expect major innovations every year? Incremental, that’s how these things go. Big maybe about any new processor, A8X, speed bumped or, maybe 4 core graphics.
Assuming you’re right, we should be seeing the first beta of iOS 8.2 anytime now, like the next week or two.
I must say I as a student the my iPad is lacking substantially. It would be killer if they competed with the sp3. If they could use iOs apps dual screen. Unfortunately iPads are not a good choice for business or student work. I purchased a surface pro 3 and it is awesome. Desktop laptop and tablet for notes. However the windows store lacks a lot of apps. The iPad had notability and other useful school apps but no full browser or multi window. If it is just a bigger iPad it will be a huge opportunity missed because the competition like sp3 from Microsoft is getting very good.
too big, but great!
With iPads getting smaller and iPhones getting bigger, who knows when they’ll overtake each other…